W.C. 'Bill' Epler, February 10th, 2007In other words... those who still support these psychos... what the hell are they thinking!?
There's a sad game many of us have been playing which it's time to stop. It's called: "Surely our Republican neighbors have been duped."
We know these people; some of them are our in-laws, some of them are our neighbors, some of them are colleagues at work, and we just can't bring ourselves to believe that they live in the same moral/irrational sewer as George W. Bush.
But isn't that exactly what people said about the German supporters of Hitler during WW2? That's a rhetorical question, because, yes, that's EXACTLY what people said about the German supporters of Hitler during WW2. And they were wrong, dead wrong, monstrously wrong. That's what the Nuremberg trials were all about.
We can't have it both ways. It may be comforting to think that our Viva Bush neighbors, relatives, and colleagues are brainwashed puppets, but it's not that simple.
People support George Bush because in some sense they "are" George Bush. Republicans = Bush - he hasn't raped anyone. The doors to their bedrooms have always been open.
So what does this mean? It means that what is now happening in America isn't politics as usual. What's happening is virtually a species war.
Republicans aren't just Americans with different views, even though that probably used to be true when politics was Americans debating Americans (this was when Republicans were Americans first and Republicans second).
But that's no longer true and here's the proof. Let's use Jesus' dictum of, "Ye shall judge them by their fruits." Isn't that what Jesus meant? Wasn't he warning us not to be taken in by spinning? Walking the walk is what counts, not talking the talk.
The same thing is true for Republicans. You can't support an irrational, immoral thug without being an irrational, immoral thug. And that includes our sisters, our fishing companions, and our employees.
This is a hard and desperately painful truth, but it must be confronted. Republicans (with exceptions that prove the rule) are like the sleazy suitors of Penelope who Odysseus came home to in Ithaca. When he massively asserted himself to rid his kingdom of their cancer, one of them asked him why he was so furious. Remember his answer? He said, "It's because you were trying to steal my world."
That's the definition of a Republican: Someone who's trying to steal your world. Someone for whom might makes right and the end justifies any means. Someone for whom money is God and who is willing to do ANYTHING to get more, including killing your children.
So these aren't neighborly disagreements anymore. These are people who are anti-science, anti-environment, and contemptuous of humanity. Their spirituality is fake and stinks. Evangelicals are where Christianity ISN'T. Jesus spoke of love and compassion. Compare his words to the recent terrorist remarks of people like Pat Robinson. The marriage between Republicans and the Christian Right (or the UN-Christian Wrong) is truly made in hell.
So no more blinders, please. Time to see it like it is. Republicans aren't dupes and neither were the supporters of Hitler (or your tyrant of choice).
So long as this is unclear, we will keep trying to have ethical, rational conversations with criminals who break into our homes and abuse our families. And we will keep trying to have ethical, rational conversations with people who pretend George Bush didn't murder New Orleans through unimaginable incompetence.
It helps to see that Republicans really KNOW that Bush's energy policies are raping Mother Nature, and that Republicans really KNOW that Bush has lied to us about everything in Iraq in order make greed vampires like Cheney/Halliburton rich beyond the dreams of Midas.
. . . they also well know that 9/11 was an avoidable horror that happened on his watch!
The point is that Republicans aren't deluded or "taken in" by these things any more than all of the rest of us, it's just that they simply could care less so long as the cash register keeps dinging and they get to keep one upping all the non white, non Protestant, non old money, non good ol' boy suckers -- and so long as their pitiful Religious Right fear of life gets to hide on the other side of the universe from reality. And our President? Well, doesn't his smirk say it all?
It's been said that terrorism isn't the problem; terrorism is a symptom of the problem. Same thing here. George Bush isn't the problem; George Bush is a symptom of the problem.
Today's radicalized Republicans are the problem.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Other Lemmings
Here is one I liked from The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Epler's World: An Inconvenient Republican Truth..."
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6 comments:
Republicans don't think for themselves.
That is the banality of evil.
just a question...bearing that in mind, are pat tillman or winston churchill heroes?
That was one of the most on the mark pieces of writing I've read in a long, long time!
Believe it, folks. He's right.
Nunya: when they do, they are surisingly fond of liberal democratic policies. When you point out to them how they embrace and prosper from things like their labor union benefits like sick leave and vacation time, their HUD home deals, etc., etc...
Michael: Here's a nice quote from Churchill: "The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."
Future: He is indeed!
Shea,
I realize that these are someone else’s words and thoughts and not yours. Any one who would say that all Democrats are this or all Republicans are that is a complete and utter fool. Rebublicans run the scale from bright to stupid; from criminal to heroic; from good citizen to bad citizen. So do Democrats. Mr. Epler is an embarrassment for all good Democrats. Lord knows, we have more than our share of such morons on my side.
Rick: I'm in the fortunate position of being a registered independent :). I believe political parties in general are a problem to begin with.
The article, though, really address the "nouveau" republicans. The result of twenty years of media saturation by right-wing hate-speak, twenty years of redefining the concepts of 'conservative' and 'liberal' into something unrecognizably twisted and perverse, until republicans in general have become, in general, what the article describes. And the "Uniter, not Divider" through gasoline on the fire something fierce.
I know there are exceptions to the rule. But they have been incredibly hard to find.
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